Get to know the authorThe Bright!Tax Awards Committee is proud to announce that Natalie Heath has become the twelfth recipient of the Bright!Tax Global Scholar Award.
The Award is a biannual scholarship for ambitious, inspirational young Americans who are studying overseas.
Bright!Tax is the leading provider of US tax services for the 10 million Americans living abroad.
Bright!Tax founder Greg Dewald said, “Many years ago, I had the opportunity to study abroad. The experience ignited in me a lifelong passion for travel and exploring the world, including living in South America for ten years. I initiated the Global Scholar Award in 2016 to provide the same opportunity for a new generation of young Americans”.
Natalie triumphed in a crowded field of over a hundred exceptional candidates.
Natalie is in her first year of an undergraduate degree in Biomedical Science at the University of Essex in the UK.
She said, “I’m very grateful to receive the Global Scholar Award, as it will help me to financially support my aspirations to live and study abroad. After I finish my undergraduate degree, I plan to study medicine, and eventually to become a pediatrician. My dream is to someday work with “Doctors Without Borders.”
Natalie’s ambitions are inspired partly by seeing the effect the pandemic has had on children in some of the poorest communities around the world, and partly by her family background.
“My father provided my first exposure to science. As a career chemist, he would often use household materials or bring home (the more harmless) materials from work to show my brother and me some real chemistry at work.”
“Many years ago, I had the opportunity to study abroad. The experience ignited in me a lifelong passion for travel and exploring the world.”
“I remember being fascinated by how black pepper sprinkled atop a small glass of water would scatter at the introduction of a drop of dish soap by a fingertip, and awed at how different substances cause the fire of a bunsen burner to turn different colors. My dad often took me as a child to science presentations for kids, and when I was older sometimes even to the lab at his workplace, where I imagined what the various mysterious contraptions, tools, and jars of substances might be used for.”
“Also, since my grandfather, who was a neurologist, died of melanoma cancer, my grandmother has been the driving force behind our family’s contribution and activism in the MelanomaKnowMore foundation, which funds skin cancer research and treatment. She has shown me how to turn passion and care into tangible, meaningful, and intelligent action.”
The Bright!Tax Awards Committee was impressed by Natalie’s passion, ambition, courage and academic achievements so far, and how she has reacted and adapted to the global disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Greg Dewald continued, “Natalie is an exceptional young American with inspiring aspirations and a bright future. We wish her every success, and I’m sure she’ll achieve her every ambition.”
